Happy New Year!

Workahamsterholism

Not what I'd call fine arts, but might do as an illustration -- perhaps it is better to let the motif squeak for itself?

(Ink and watercolour on paper. Enjoy, and don't work that much.)

Merry Xmas!

A quick little thing made with a ballpoint pen and a little electricity... Merry Christmas!

This is post no. 100 of Paintstakingly -- thank you for following these serious follies :)

Dear Santa Claus,

I haven’t been a good child all through this year; it has been very rough for body and soul, not mentioning the remains of my heart. Still, if I may wish for something that would be good for all and not just little me…

I’m not interested in wrapped gifts, nor money. As for money, I’d rather do without. I’m very in for something that some grownups call Citizen’s Salary. They tell me that you have less worries then, they sort of give you a few golden coins a month so that you can eat and have a roof above your head that stays in one place and doesn’t threaten to fly away. That you can work with something worthwhile, even something that you’re good at, that you get time for friends and family and love even. Dear Santa, I dream that some grownups could start their own small business too without dreaming nightmares about money.

Some say that grownups are lazy and don’t want to work. I don’t think that they know how much happy people can work. Some say that we can’t afford giving so many golden coins away for nothing. It’s not for nothing. Dear Santa, the grownups look so sick and tired, and often they have to stop working after a few years. They don’t work because they’re happy. Deep in their hearts they work because they’re afraid! I wish that we could pay them to be happy and healthy, not to be sick and tired and without a home and you name it, Santa Dear. That costs money too.

I could go on, but now I’m sure that you have plenty to do. It’s a pretty big gift, and I hope that the reindeer are strong enough to pull it, but it would be our happiest Xmas ever.

Santa, Please?

Yours Sincerely,

Joakim

Ps. May I wish for a White Christmas too?

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Giant Spider Butterfly

It's a shame that I can't show you what I and my dancing friend have brewing -- my part in it is something between illustrations and art -- so instead we land in the Weird Animals Dept., throwing a wink to my friend M. I don't know if M. really wants her name spelled out, much owing to her well-founded, entirely rational... fear of butterflies. Butterflies! Fluttering dreams of the summer meadow... dear M, what turned our dreams into your nightmare?
"They're yucky, their eerie! They look just like spiders with their skinny creepy legs; once you forget about the wings they are spiders!"

Instead of arguing with this spin-off product of arachnophobia, I give you this Giant Spider Butterfly [Arachne Jumboyeti] to consider. Brrrrr?

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Ps. This week I gave my somewhat baroque English a little more exercise, too many words and a little imagery for Ohana Magazine. The subject is Stockholm Underground Culture and how to survive it...

Map vs. Reality

A sketch drawn in ink on paper, then turned negative. But Photoshop gave us happier cosmic colours. The entire universe wants cheering up, to be more positive on the whole.